Carnegie Mellon To Host House Republican Policy Committee Roundtable Discussion About Future Energy Costs

August 31 , 2007
Contact: Chriss Swaney
Carnegie Mellon
(412) 268-5776

Or

Lauren Gutshall
PA House of Representatives
( 717)-418-3981

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University will host a roundtable discussion with energy experts and state Rep. Mike Turzia, R-Bradford Woods, from 1 to 3 p.m. September 5 in the Singleton Room of Roberts Engineering Hall.

The public forum will address a variety of issues from the environmental impact of using fossil fuels and renewable alternatives to new incentives for power generation statewide. Already, neighboring states like Ohio are proposing re-regulation of electricity. And scorching temperatures across California have forced that state to ask consumers to limit use of their appliances, the first step preceding rolling blackouts, in which power is cut to certain regions to avoid a system-wide crash.

Other roundtable members include Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering; Andrew Gellman, head of the Chemical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon; Lester Lave, a professor of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon; Dave Dzombak, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon and faculty director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research (SEER); Deborah Lange, executive director of SEER; Tom Feeley, technology manager of environmental and water resources, coal and power research at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Lab; Dick Winschel, director of research services at CONSOL Energy; Steve Rhodes, president of the Pennsylvania Oil and Natural Gas Association; Richard Hudson, regulatory affairs market manager for Strategic Energy and Cindy Datig, executive director of the Dollar Energy Fund.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.